Pine Bush High School is the first high school in the country to receive a Gene Haas Foundation grant for manufacturing education. The district received $250,000, which it will use to double the square footage of the Gene Haas Innovation Center, the high school’s Science Technology Engineering Art and Math area.

Pine Bush High School has been ahead of the curve for years in STEAM. In addition to Haas Automation, the high school partners with the Council of Industry of Southeast New York, Allendale Machinery Systems/Haas Factory Outlet, Workforce Development Institute, Pratt & Whitney Advanced Coating Technologies and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Students earn industry credentials in multiple areas and they have the opportunity to immediately translate their skills to real-world career paths.

“We now have 15 students working for Pratt & Whitney and three seniors working with CreoDent,” said Aaron Hopmayer, principal of Pine Bush High School. “The opportunities we’re providing to our students are incredible.”

The Gene Haas Foundation was established in 1999 by Haas Automation, Inc., founder and CEO Gene Haas. He first provided grants to the local community through non-profit organizations. When he saw a growing need for skilled manufacturing employees, he expanded the foundation’s mission to include support for manufacturing training programs. The foundation has provided more than $100 million in grants since its inception. The grants typically go to college-level programs, however, Hopmayer and Ken Marshall, the high school’s STEAM coach, decided they would apply on behalf of Pine Bush High School.

The grant process was long, taking three years from application to receipt. Hopmayer knows the end result was worth the wait.

Last Tuesday, the Pine Bush Central School District hosted a kick-off event for the expansion to the school’s STEAM area. Invited guests took a tour of the STEAM facility, watching the high school’s program in action. Afterwards the official kick-off event took place under a tent near the technology area of the school. STEAM industry leaders, educators, administrators, politicians, business owners as well as representatives from the Gene Haas Foundation gave speeches regarding the momentous occasion.

“Our strategic plan, which really drives a lot of this work, is entitled ‘Tomorrow Begins Today’,” said Superintendent Tim Mains. “A title that not just suggests to us and reminds us what our responsibility is as a public school, to prepare our kids in class today for those jobs of tomorrow, but it also provides some inspiration for what we as a district can do, as we reform ourselves to become a truly child-centered, student-centered district. We try in Pine Bush to teach our students dream big, think globally, value diversity and achieve personal success. Giving students a chance to find a path that’s right for them is what the Gene Haas Innovation Center is all about.”

Mike Martucci, senator for the 42nd New York State Senate District, praised the high school’s STEAM program.

“Here in the state of New York we have over 800 school districts and the program that you see here is tremendously unique...,” he said. “Today you’ve planted a flag here in Pine Bush. This is going to be a model, this is going to be a blueprint for high schools across our state and across our country.”

Students in the STEAM program are thankful for the grant funding, which will extend the STEAM lab at the high school.

“I think it’ll be great,” said Sydney Bahrenburg, a junior at the school. “A lot of kids enjoy doing the engineering. I think it’ll honestly help a lot of kids out and expand our horizons.”

The event concluded with several board of education members and administrators smashing through a wall with mallets. The wall was labeled “Breaking Through the Skills Gap Barrier,” and their smashing through it represented students sharpening their skills to create a better future for themselves.